Americans outside the wealthiest 20% of the country have run out of extra savings and now have less cash on hand than they did when the pandemic began, according to the latest Federal Reserve study of household finances.
How did people not lose money during the pandemic, besides being stupid rich? The one piddly payment and unemployment I got from being laid off was way less than my normal earnings, so the cost to survive had to eat into savings and go onto credit cards. I still haven't recovered.
Personally, working from home provided huge cost savings. I was also able to drop my personal phone to a bare minimum since I was always home and on wifi.